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Towards a regulatory framework for climate smart agriculture in Europe

In this symposium, important stakeholders discuss which legal measures need to be taken to help Europe’s farmers to convert to climate smart agriculture. Measures that will be discussed are, for example, the inclusion of agriculture in the EU ETS (under an offsets mechanism) and a much stronger focus on the specific requirements of climate change mitigation and adaptation in the Common Agriculture Policy.

Between now and 2050, there will be a sharp increase in the demand of agricultural products due to an increase of the world’s population, the rise in global calorie intake due to greater affluence, and the production of bio-fuels.The increase in agricultural production will be accompanied by an increase in the emission of greenhouse gasses.

Agriculture is responsible for 30% of global greenhouse emissions. Agriculture is not only a major cause of climate change but in many regions of the world, it is also seriously impacted by climate change. In many regions, yields will be negatively affected because of shifts in water availability, temperature shifts, and changes in the occurrence of pests. Policy documents, mostly by international institutions, have endorsed climate smart agriculture as a means to achieve production growth, while at the same time reducing the emission of greenhouse gasses and adapting the agricultural sector to the changing climate. Despite numerous interesting experiments in several EU member states, it is as yet unclear through what legal mechanism the necessary deep and full transition of Europe’s agriculture sector can be achieved.

In this symposium, important stakeholders discuss which legal measures need to be taken to help Europe’s farmers to convert to climate smart agriculture. Measures that will be discussed are, for example, the inclusion of agriculture in the EU ETS (under an offsets mechanism) and a much stronger focus on the specific requirements of climate change mitigation and adaptation in the Common Agriculture Policy.